Jaipur, Oct 13: Security agencies have recovered a consignment of suspected explosives and weapons from the Rawla Mandi area of Rajasthan’s Sri Ganganagar district, near the Pakistan border.

Two youths from Punjab have been arrested in connection with the case, while a search operation is underway in the surrounding areas.

According to preliminary information, the consignment was allegedly dropped by a drone from across the Pakistan border on Monday night.

The recovered material reportedly includes RDX, two pistols, four magazines, around 650 cartridges, four pairs of batteries and two remote-control devices.

The exact nature and quantity of the seized material are yet to be officially confirmed.

The operation was conducted by teams from the Border Security Force (BSF), the Anti-Narcotics Task Force (ANTF) and Rawla police following an intelligence input about suspicious packets being dropped near Chak 4 KNM W Tail, under Gram Panchayat 12 KND in the Rawla area.

According to officials, the ANTF had received information that three packets had been dropped by a suspected Pakistani drone in a field near a canal at around 10 p.m. on Monday. Initially, the packets were suspected to contain narcotics. Acting on the input, security personnel searched the area and recovered the suspicious packets. The contents reportedly included weapons and explosive material. Two youths were apprehended during the operation.

Preliminary information suggests that one is from Jalandhar and the other from the Firozpur area of Punjab. Their alleged roles and links to the consignment are being investigated.

ANTF Inspector General Vikas Kumar said a large quantity of ammunition and suspected explosives had been dropped in Rajasthan using drones. He said security agencies were investigating who had sent the consignment and what its intended purpose was.

The entire matter was under investigation, and further details would emerge as the probe progressed. The IG confirmed that two accused had been arrested in connection with the case.

Following the recovery, security agencies have tightened surveillance in the border region. Search operations are underway in agricultural fields, along canal banks and in nearby areas to determine whether any additional packets or suspicious material were dropped.

Investigators are also questioning the arrested youths to establish their alleged connections, identify those behind the consignment and determine where the weapons and explosives were intended to be delivered.

A specialised team has reportedly been called from Jaipur to examine the seized material and establish its precise composition and quantity. Security agencies are continuing their investigation, and further details are awaited.

New Delhi, Oct 13: Delhi Police have registered four FIRs in connection with the INDIA bloc’s protest march to the Supreme Court, police sources said on Tuesday. The cases were registered at the Connaught Place, Tilak Marg, Mandir Marg, and Barakhamba police stations.

These FIRs have been filed for violation of Section 163 of the BNSS.

Two FIRs have been filed at the Tilak Marg police station, one at the Mandir Marg police station, and one at the Barakhamba police station, according to Delhi Police sources.

In another development, the police detained several protesters, including CJP’s Ashutosh Ranka and Saurav Das, from Jantar Mantar. CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke posted a video of a flash protest at Jantar Mantar where CJP volunteers were seen climbing an iron gate and a police barricade to reach Jantar Mantar to protest.

In the video of the protest, CJP leader Ranka and Das alongwith a few volunteers can be seen jumping a gate with flags in their hands and entering the area to stage a protest. The group raised slogans as they were chased by the police who were stationed there. The protesters had a little run in with cops who tried to stop them while they raised Bharat Mata Ki Jai and Inquilab Zindabaad slogans. The protesters were later detained and taken away.

The march on Monday witnessed a gathering of INDIA bloc leaders, activists and civil society members in central Delhi protesting against the Election Commission of India (ECI) over alleged electoral irregularities and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise. A delegation of the leaders subsequently approached the Supreme Court with a joint petition challenging the SIR process.

The march came a day after Chief Justice of India Surya Kant declined a request to meet Opposition leaders over the issue, citing that the matter was sub judice.

Meanwhile, the Congress party claimed on its social media handles that 2.5 lakh people had participated in the protest. The ‘March for Democracy’, which began at the Constitution Club around 1.30 p.m., continued for more than four hours and proceeded largely unhindered by police barricades.

The march also witnessed several lighter moments, including Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge donning a Batman mask.

Despite a proposal by the INDIA bloc leaders that only the national flag should be displayed during the march, Congress flags dominated the gathering. Flags belonging to Left student organisations were also visible.

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi has invited the INDIA bloc leaders, civil society members and student organisations for a high tea at his residence at 4 p.m. on Tuesday. A press conference is also scheduled ahead of the meeting, a day after the Opposition’s march to the Supreme Court over the SIR of electoral rolls.

Meanwhile, a security review of three newly designated protest sites has been completed, sources said. The decision was based on real-time inputs received by the Ministry of Home Affairs’ control room. Security deployment strategies are being assessed and revised daily, they added.

A majority of the protesters were Congress supporters who had travelled from different parts of the country to participate in the demonstration.

Mumbai, Oct 13: The Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray on Tuesday criticised the Central and state leadership, accusing them of creating a civil-war-like, anarchic situation across the country.

The Thackeray camp in the party’s mouthpiece, ‘Samaana’, condemned the alleged police brutality against ‘peaceful’ student protesters, youth, and women in Delhi and Mumbai, while sharply criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah for their “silence and apathy”.

The editorial said that the country is witnessing an atmosphere akin to a civil war, with Delhi transformed into a massive police station where children and young girls are being shamelessly beaten. Despite Supreme Court directives stating that police should not use batons on protesters when there is no rioting, police forces in Delhi and Mumbai have reportedly behaved high-handedly, subjecting peaceful satyagrahis to brutal force. In Delhi, women satyagrahis and journalists faced ruthless behaviour, with allegations that male police personnel molested and manhandled them. Prominent political figures, including MP John Brittas, CPI General Secretary M.A. Baby, and Kerala opposition leader P. Vijayan, were dragged, beaten, and stuffed into prison vans while participating in a peaceful satyagraha, said the Saamana editorial.

The editorial further stated that similar tactics reportedly spread to Mumbai, where students and numerous female college students staging a satyagraha near Shivaji Park were cruelly dragged and forced into police vans.

The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena accused Home Minister Amit Shah of “crushing” Supreme Court orders and “unleashing brute force on peaceful protesters”, claiming these actions are fuelling public anger against the Prime Minister. It criticised Prime Minister Modi for visiting Chennai to review metro presentations and deliver lectures on development instead of uttering a single word over the unrest.

The Thackeray camp accused Home Minister Amit Shah of “staying sequestered behind armed guards, ignoring public uprisings and police crackdowns, and instead celebrating by distributing sweets on social media over the BJP’s by-election victories in states like West Bengal and Puducherry”.

The editorial launched a severe attack on the nation’s prominent award-winning personalities — holders of honours like Bharat Ratna, Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan, Jnanpith, and Sahitya Akademi awards — as well as film and theatre celebrities, comparing them to submissive artists dancing to the tune of power.

Drawing a parallel to the silence of intellectuals and artists during the eras of Hitler and Mussolini, the editorial quoted writer Harishankar Parsai, stating that the country’s intellectuals are “nominal tigers who merely play band in a jackal’s wedding”.

“While actors and public figures deliver heavy dialogues on screen, they zip their mouths when the nation faces a crisis, acting as beneficiaries of the government just like beneficiaries of welfare schemes”, claimed the editorial.

In contrast, the editorial praised figures like Prakash Raj, Naseeruddin Shah, and Jaya Bachchan, along with former cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar — who voiced opposition to police high-handedness — as showing true spirit and greater nationalism.

The Thackeray camp warned that treating these opportunistic celebrities as neutral when a political shift occurs would be an ultimate betrayal of the youth who are currently suffering under police oppression and fighting against dictatorship.

The editorial concluded by declaring that “intellectuals who silently watch such atrocities are enemies of society and of no use to the nation”.